


Comforting Yourself

by verus_janus (Methleigh)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-23
Updated: 2012-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 20:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/410943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Methleigh/pseuds/verus_janus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Severus and Luna talk about his Pensieve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comforting Yourself

There was something very special about the clay bowl that Professor Snape carried. It fairly radiated a halo of ghosts in opalescent smoke of blue and white. She simply must ask. Such a profoundly promising Ravenclaw blue.

"Excuse me, Professor."

He moved his head in impatience. "Yes, Miss Lovegood?" But his hands were gentle and careful with the bowl, almost tender.

"I couldn't help noticing the aura surrounding your dear bowl, and I was wondering, in the interest of education, if you might tell me a little about it." She added the last as she was well aware that he valued diligence and study. It was the only way to win favour in his classes. She stood very straight with her hands respectfully behind her back.

Professor Snape stopped and frowned at her, allowing her to glance within the bowl. The bottom was melded glass speckled in green and blue. Like the sea, she thought. A dark sea, for the rest was black.

Her teacher paused to reply. "As one of your little classmates has already been informed of its functions and properties, I do not doubt this information has been tossed about the school as if it were a... Fanged Frisbee. It is called a Penseive." She noticed the precision and pride in his voice. "I developed it with Professor Dumbledore. One may place memories within and relive them. Or another may relive them. One may examine them in detail, to meditate upon ones errors. For instance, were a student to relive the night before her exam, she would watch herself again lounging about the common room, chattering aimlessly and frittering away her time with trivialities."

Luna tilted her head to think a moment and to allow the implications of this to bound through her mind like rabbits. "If you were to visit yourself at a terrible time, you could comfort yourself."

"That's ridiculous. You can't change the past, or you would not be there to look within the Pensieve. You may only watch the past. You cannot interact with it."

Luna was undeterred. It was just his way. "But the past is not really in your... Pensieve. You are not really witnessing the past. It's your memory, which is always inside you, like a friend. You would know you had been there with yourself, with sympathy and understanding. So you could comfort the sad and frightened memory within you when you thought of it. It would not cause you to be so sad or afraid any longer."


End file.
